Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is a transmissible, rapidly progressing, neurodegenerative disorder, closely related to “mad cow disease” (Gale, 2013). CJD is can be confused as Alzheimer's, but CJD is more rapidly progressing and ultimately leads to death. It is one of many ‘spongiform encephalopathies’ disease that causes fluid filled spaces in the brain called vacuoles that make the brain have a sponge-like appearance. There is an estimated 250 cases per year in the United States, making it rare but transmissible (Gale, 2015). A person who has CJD will become completely unrecognizable due to personality changes and psychosis, affecting not only themselves but the people around them (Gale, 2013). It is important to know…

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a disease that has been slowly spreading throughout deer and elk populations for the past 36 years. Recently, CWD was spotted in Arkansas where more deer were infected faster than previously expected. Based on this event, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency is preparing to handle CWD whenever it should come. CWD is a very serious disease, but as of now it poses no real threat to humans. CWD is believed to be transmitted by prions. This places CWD in close…

Mad cow disease is a condition that effects the brain. The medical terminology for it is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. If you break down the name, it tells what the disease is. Bovine is the term for a cow, encephalopathy means a disease in the brain, and spongiform describes the appearance of the brain. The term mad cow disease came from the way the cow acts when it has the disease. It is a progressive neurologic disease, affecting the central nervous system. It also effects the immune…

Creutzfeldt–Jacob Disease (CJD) is a rare degenerative disease of the brain. There are around 300 cases in the United States per year (NIH). CJD is also referred to as “mad cow” disease, this is because they carry the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) (NIH). TSEs are caused by prions. In the brain, there are proteins called prions. Prions occur when a normal protein changes their shape which changes their function and are also capable of multiplying (NIH). There are two ways that…

‘spongey’ nature of neural tissue sometimes caused by the expansion of vacuoles in the neurons of the brain (known as vacuolation). The dead neuron (caused by the prions) alert lysosomes to clear up, however these lysosomes burst and kill other neurons (Cobb, 2009). The harmful Prion proteins gather at the synapses of neurones, stopping them functioning; however the ‘spongey’ changes occur in cisternae of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, between the axons of neurones, and glial cell processes…

Mad Cow Disease Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) not only affects cattle, but also public health and commerce. Mad cow disease is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from an unusual transmissible agent called a prion. The nature of the agent is not well understood but scientists think it is a modified form of a normal protein called a prion protein. This prion is pathogenic and it slowly damages a cow’s central nervous system (Bovine). This disease leads…

Additionally there have been strict restrictions placed on imported goods from other countries (especially Western Europe) known to have suffered from infections by prions. “To prevent BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease] from entering the United States, severe restrictions were placed on the importation of live ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and goats, and certain ruminant products from countries where BSE was known to exist. These restrictions were later extended to…

Viviana Esteves Biology 1A Lab October 19, 2015 Mad Cow BSE Mad Cow disease is otherwise known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Bovine means that the disease affects mainly cows and cattle. Spongiform refers to the spongy look of an infected cows brain, prion causes holes and tissues to fold. Encephalopathy is any form of disease to the brain. BSE is found in more in younger cattle and cows. Other forms of BSE are found in humans, cats (feline spongiform encephalopathy), sheeps…

The abnormal prion proteins in the brain cause the brain to shrink since the disease attacks the inner part of the brain along with neurons and cells. Peter Pressman in When Good Proteins Go Bad, claims that “Most prion diseases cause what is known as a spongiform encephalopathy. The word spongiform means that the disease erodes brain tissue, creating microscopic holes that make the tissue look like a sponge.” An interesting part of this disease is that victims go through a period of incubation…

identifying what mad cow disease is Mad Cow disease is known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the scientific community. It is a transmittable, degenerative, slow growing fatal disease, which affects the central nervous system of adult cow, formed when a cow eats the central nervous tissue of another cow. Human can be affected by eating Beef that fed on food contain Central nervous system tissue, like the brain. When a human contracts this disease, it is called variant…